- Become an expert in your subject matter. Take on challenging projects. Become creative in finding solutions to problems. Attend courses in areas you feel you are deficient. Read up on the net. Get involved in discussions.
- Read books on consulting (see article in “experts corner” where I have recommended some books). The McKinsey Way and Trusted Advisor. Another good book is Dangerous Company on “infamous” cases by leading consulting firms.
- Take a look at past project documents in your organizations. Look for the original request for proposal (RFP), your company’s response to the proposal and the final solution documents. Try to understand what the challenges were , how they were solved and what the client feedback was.
- Work with your business analysts to see how they are capturing client requirements and how they are working with clients to get more information on areas that need digging deeper.
- Get involved in pre-sales activity such as preparing proposals, meeting clients along with the sales or account teams. Volunteer yourself in writing proposals to get some first hand exposure to “understanding what clients want, formulating a solution and influencing them to buy form you”. These are key skills.
- Read, understand and practice the 10 important attributes of a consultant. You can find them in a blog I have written “ The 10 C’s of a Consultant” at http://zenesys.kuber.com/?p=7
- Network in your organization at company events and seek out consulting practice delivery managers. Tell them about your interest in consulting and tell them how what you have done to prepare yourself. Specifically, tell him/her about instances of steps 1 – 6 above.
- Look at job listings in your company jobs database and apply. However, reaching out to practice leaders may be more effective.
- Join your college consulting club and participate in various inter collegiate events and competitions. All IIMs and other leading B-Schools have interesting competitions related to consulting.
- You should work on consulting related summer placements to get first hand exposure to the world of consulting
- Try to work on live projects while on campus. Again your local consulting clubs can help you secure live projects.
- Try to solve a lot of case interview questions you can find at various website such as the vault.com. Read the article on cracking a case interview on this website. Try to work in groups when you solve case interviews to give you some confidence on how to master the art of “structured problem solving”.
- Don’t be too hung up on going for jobs at top tier consulting firms where the entry criteria may be very stringent. Most leading global IT firms are looking for consulting talent these days in verticals such as Banking, Telecom, Energy and horizontals such as ERP, Strategy, CRM, Marketing, HR, etc.
I am a CA having strong analytical skills with a 4 years of work-ex.
1. 2.5 yr Credit underwriting (Genpact)
2. 1.5 yr Corporate banking (ICICI Bank Ltd.)
I want to move into a Consulting role (towards financial/strategy) due to which i am also thinking about doing an MBA, because it's pretty hard to find an opening without any prior experience...thats my experience...!
I am thinking of pursuing a distance certification provided by ZENeSYS...but i am unclear as to how would it help me in reaching my aim? Should i progress towards it...if not...then how should i go about it?
Kindly suggest..Rahul
Some ideas...